Chapter 17 - The Tournament Begins, Round Three!
"No way… fifth… place?" Ryuko muttered under her breath. In front of her, she saw the four teams who had qualified before she did.
"Oi! Icy-hot! What kind of trick did you pull in order to beat me, huh?!" Bakugo yelled out towards Todoroki, an assault which Todoroki did nothing but ignore, "HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME!"
"I have no interest in you." Todoroki coldly stated.
Bakugo and Todoroki… She had expected Izuku to be ahead of both of them, but either way, she hadn't deluded herself into thinking that she could beat them… but the other team, Team Shinso, Ryuko realized, was just pulling into the stadium.
"AND JUST LIKE THAT, TEAM SHINSO HAS ARRIVED, PLACING IN FOURTH!" Midnight announced loudly, "THESE FOUR TEAMS WILL BE MOVING TO THE FINALS, AFTER AN HOUR LONG BREAK!"
"Wait… does this mean…" Ryuko thought, "If I wasn't so hell-bent on beating Kaminari and his group… I could have won?!"
"THE FINAL EVENT WILL BE A FORMAL TOURNAMENT… A SERIES OF ONE ON ONE BATTLES!" Midnight yelled through an intercom, "WHOEVER WINS IT… WILL OFFICIALLY BE DECLARED THE FIRST-YEAR SPORTS FESTIVAL'S ROYAL, OR IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S KING!"
"I can't believe how fast you were back there Ida!" Izuku shouted, as both he and Uraraka currently were swarming Ida, "How'd you do it?!"
"Well, to put it simply, I found a way to boost my capacity for speed for a brief moment." Ida explained, "Though, the downside of this new move is that I cannot sustain it for more than 10 seconds, after which, my engines will stall."
"That's amazing!" Izuku commented, "I was barely even able to tell it was you back there!"
And truth be told, it was only because of the fourth's Danger Sense that Izuku was able to see that it was Ida... eight percent of his power wasn't quite good enough for him to notice Ida while he wasn't expecting him.
"Jeez... I feel sorry for whoever has to go up against you in the tournament." Uraraka added.
Over in Class 1-B, one of the only two students from the class who had made it to the tournament was thinking similar thought, albeit about himself.
"Hm." Monoma muttered, ready to compete for the title of Sports Festival King, "I daresay, I pity whoever has to go up against me in the first round."
He said this to nobody in particular, though he might've predicted that the quiet and neutral faced Yui Kodai would have responded, if not for the fact that she was staring at the ground in front of her intensely.
"Hm." Kodai responded without emotion.
"The matchups for this event will be decided by drawing lots." Midnight stated, now referring to the details of the tournament, "Once that's settled, we'll move onto some pre-tournament activities, and then, we'll move on to the tournament itself! Oh, and for you all participating in the tournament, the activities before it will be entirely optional."
Suddenly, interrupting Midnight, the quiet Kodai raised her hand.
"Excuse me…" she muttered, "I'd like to… drop out."
"Huh?!" Monoma yelled back at his classmate, completely shocked that she would let Class 1-A have a chance to show them up.
"The Maze… I have no memories of it." Kodai simply explained, "I don't wanna be in the finals due to something other than my own strength."
"Come on Kodai!" Monoma yelled, "There's more on the line here than just your pride!"
"I concur with the madame's reasoning. I also request to drop out, s'il vous plaît." Aoyama interjected as well. (though... it's weird that he did. After all, in the original manga, he didn't, even though he was in the same position... is this lazy writing on my part, or something more?)
"Hahaha! I guess you were too guilty that you got in due to Class 1-B's endless superiority over you!" Monoma stated, completely changing his tone from what he told Kodai.
"How naive and green…" Midnight stated coldly, before warming up suddenly, "I like it!"
"Well in that case…" Aizawa muttered over the intercom, "The fifth place team and one member from the sixth place team will enter into the tournament in your place."
"If anyone from our team is to get in…" Tetsutetsu began, being a member of the sixth place team, "It should be you, Shiozaki! Give 'em hell out there!"
"A-are you sure, my dear compatriot?!" Shiozaki asked, "I would feel awful taking this opportunity away from any of you!"
"Don't worry! You're the one who will be able to get the farthest out of all of us!" Juzo Honenuki stated.
"Yeah! Don't worry, go for the win!" Yotetsu Awase stated.
"Then… I will accept!" Shiozaki gladly stated with a smile, prepared to win the tournament for her teammates.
"I was given a second chance… even though I lost." Ryuko thought, "...I got caught up last round and fell on my ass… but now… now that I have this chance…"
"I won't lose!" Ryuko confidently stated aloud, having learnt from her past failings.
"Then, Matoi and Shiozaki will bring our numbers back up to 16." Midnight announced, "And here are the matchups!"
ROUND 1
Round 1 will be split up into two parts.
The first two matches will take place in Chapter 17, these being:
1. Hitoshi Shinso vs Mina Ashido
2. Kyoka Jiro vs Momo Yaoyorozu
The other six matches will take place during Chapter 18, since there's less to go over in these matches. These matches are:
3. Ochaco Uraraka vs Tenya Ida
4. Tsuyu Asui vs Ibara Shiozaki
5. Mei Hatsume vs Shoto Todoroki
6. Eijiro Kirishima vs Ryuko Matoi
7. Izuku Midoriya vs Mezo Shoji
8. Katsuki Bakugo vs Neito Monoma
"Huh?!" Uraraka questioned, seeing her matchup was to be against her friend, Ida.
"Uraraka!" Ida shouted, placing his hand on her shoulder, as she confusedly turned over to Ida, "Let's make this a good match. No hard feelings no matter who wins, okay?"
"Huh?!" Uraraka repeated again, not accepting reality.
"Mina Ashido... that's you, right?" Shinso asked the pink haired girl in front of her.
"Oh, yeah!" Mina said with a smile, turning around quickly and offering her hand out to her opponent, "You must be Shinso, right? Let's both do our best!"
Shinso merely scoffed after Mina's encouragement and walked off; she was full of openings.
"Jeez… how rude." Mina commented, puffing out her cheek.
"Then… assuming I win my first match…" Izuku thought aloud, "I'll be up against…"
"DEKU!" Bakugo shouted across the battlefield to the boy, "DON'T YOU DARE LOSE YOUR FIRST MATCH!"
"Ha?!" Monoma interjected, walking up to Bakugo, "What?! Are you implying that you might actually be able to beat ME-"
"Shut the hell up, damn extra!" Bakugo yelled at Monoma, hitting him with a fierce, yet relatively tame explosion.
"I'll face Midoriya in the third round…" Todoroki thought, not thinking that Izuku would face any trouble against Shoji nor Bakugo or Monoma, "Give it your best, Midoriya, but I'll still take you down."
"Hey! You're Todoroki, right?!" Hatsume cheerfully asked the boy who was deep in thought.
"Huh? Yeah." Todoroki replied back without emotion, as Hatsume flashed a smile at him.
"Would you mind putting on-"
"Uh, sorry, but I'm not interested." Todoroki muttered, as he began to walk away from the girl.
"Wha- hey!" Hatsume shouted out to the boy.
"Now let's set aside the tournament for a second…" Midnight shouted, "And move on to some pre-tournament festivities!"
The festivities began, a celebration for those who didn't make it into the tournament, and a way for them to show their skills. Things were different for the sixteen who had made it into the tournament however, as a thick air seemed to penetrate their lungs at all times.
Some tried to psyche themselves up for the event which was to come, tending to that fire that was welling up inside them, and others tried to relax, and disregard that fire for a more cool outlook. Everyone was dealing with the build up to the tournament differently, but nonetheless, time ticked onwards, and the tournament eventually began.
"HEEYYYY, ARE YOU GUYS READY?!" Present Mic shouted, "IT'S TIME FOR A FIGHT OF A LIFETIME! YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH A LOT TO GET HERE, AND NOW, IT'S TIME TO PUT THOSE SKILLS TO THE TEST IN THE ONE-ON-ONE TOURNAMENT! USE EVERYTHING YOU'VE LEARNED AND KICK SOME BUTT OUT THERE!"
In a corridor, prepared to be a member of today's first match, Mina Ashido breathed in and out. She had been through a lot, and even if she didn't get here today through her own strength entirely (she acknowledged that she relied on her alliances in the first and second round), she was still going to try her best.
"You've got this, Mina." she whispered to herself as she walked out to the arena.
"TIME FOR THE FIRST MATCH!" Present Mic exclaimed, "FIRST, WE HAVE THE STUNNING BEAUTY AND ACROBAT, MINA ASHIDO FROM THE HERO COURSE! WITH HER EXCELLENT ACID QUIRK, SHE'S SURE TO BE A CROWD FAVORITE!"
Taking a short break to allow for the applause of the crowd, Present Mic then introduced Mina's competitor.
"TODAY, SHE'S FIGHTING AGAINST HITOSHI SHINSO FROM THE GENERAL COURSE! HE'S HAD AN EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE SO FAR, AND IN THIS MATCH, WE'LL SEE JUST HOW HE GOT AS FAR AS HE DID!"
While Mina seemed to be a crowd favorite already, the applause for Shinso was much lesser... but he was used to it. After all, with a quirk like his, there was no real way to stand out in the hero world... well, besides showing the crowd just how effective it really was.
The rules were explained beforehand, and were relatively simple. Do whatever it takes to win, but going for the kill is illegal. You lose if you're knocked out, forfeit, or fall out of bounds.
"READYYY?!" Present Mic shouted.
"Relax… you've got this... you've got this!" Mina thought to herself, as Shinso began his attack before the match even began.
"You really think that someone like you can win this?" Shinso muttered, as Mina's concentration broke, "You've done nothing but rely on others this entire time."
"START!" Present Mic shouted, as Mina Ashido accelerated towards Shinso, preparing to launch an uppercut on him.
"Heh, well I'll show you-"
Mina's uppercut went through, launching Shinso into the air and onto the ground, paining him a decent bit… but after the attack however, Mina herself quickly froze in place.
Shinso scoffed at this, embarrassed by the fact that he was able to be hit by Mina... though at the very least, he had to acknowledge that she was decently fast due to this... but if she was that susceptible to his Brainwashing, then she probably didn't even deserve her spot in the hero course; she must've not so much as suspected that a quirk like Shinso's own existed.
The purple haired boy then pushed himself up and off of the ground, getting to a stable position before he made his next move.
"WOAH, WHAT'S THIS?!" Present Mic shouted, "MERE SECONDS INTO THE MATCH, AND MINA ASHIDO IS ALREADY FROZEN IN PLACE! COME ON GIRL, SHOW US SOME MOXIE!.. OR, COULD THIS BE SHINSO'S QUIRK?"
"Now… walk out of the arena." Shinso ordered, as quickly and quietly, Mina's body followed Shinso's order.
"WE WERE BARELY EVEN AWARE THIS GUY EXISTED…" Present Mic began, "BUT NOW… HE'S PROVEN HE'S SURELY ONE WE SHOULD KEEP OUR EYE ON!"
"Like I mentioned earlier… that Entrance Exam against robots was completely irrational." Aizawa muttered, "Types like Shinso who can't do well against robots, or others who have hidden potential to grow… they're instantly placed at a disadvantage!"
"That's not to say that Mina doesn't have potential herself…" Aizawa thought, "With proper training, she could be extremely powerful… and with her strength that she has now, she probably would have a decent shot at winning this tournament in any year but this one… but now that she's brainwashed, it's a different story."
"What… what is my body doing?!" Mina thought, enraged by her own actions, "My body… it won't listen to me… my head is too fuzzy!"
Mina found her way straight to the edge of the arena, as she shouted out to herself.
"BODY… STOP!"
And for an instant, her body did, shocking everyone in the crowd, and even Shinso himself. But, Mina's body didn't listen to her for long, as a moment later, she stepped out of the ring, and lost the match… even her incredible willpower was no match for Shinso's quirk.
"HITOSHI SHINSO… MOVES ON TO THE SECOND ROUND!" Present Mic announced.
"D-damn it…" Mina thought, light tears beginning to form on her face, but there was nothing that she could do now.
"Shinso! You were really awesome out there!" a general studies student shouted from the stand, as Shinso got off the stage and walked beside Mina.
"They'll consider transfers to the hero course based off of results here." he repeated to Mina, as she became extremely frustrated after Shinso's words to her.
"That Shinso guy… he's a tough nut to crack… and I feel sorry for Mina." Momo thought in the stands, "But… he could have probably done better with hiding his quirk."
"Momo… let's start preparing for our match." Jiro muttered to Momo, who was behind her.
"Oh… sure thing!" Momo said, barely able to hide the nervousness which she felt.
"AFTER THAT INCREDIBLE BATTLE, LET'S SEE IF THIS NEXT PAIR CAN BEST IT!" Present Mic yelled, "ON MY LEFT, THERE'S MOMO YAOYOROZU! THIS INCREDIBLE STUDENT HAS MAINTAINED THE TOP ACADEMIC POSITION IN HER CLASS SINCE SHE WAS ADMITTED INTO U.A. VIA RECOMMENDATIONS! SHE'S SURE TO LEAVE A MARK ON THIS COMPETITION!"
Leaving the crowd a moment to cheer for Momo, Present Mic continued afterwards.
"AND ON MY RIGHT, THERE'S KYOKA JIRO! WITH HER AMAZING QUIRK, SHE'S MADE WAVES IN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL TODAY, NO PUN INTENDED! LET'S SEE JUST WHAT SHE CAN DO!"
The crowd yet again erupted into cheers, albeit, there were a lesser amount of them due to Jiro's unimpressive introduction compared to Momo.
"W-why do I feel like I got the short end of the stick compared to Momo?" Jiro thought, unimpressed.
"READY…" Present Mic began.
"Good luck." Momo stated towards Jiro, who plugged her earphones into her feet.
"O-oh… you too." Jiro timidly responded.
"START!" Present Mic shouted.
In an instant, sound waves began to reverberate around the stadium, as Kyoka Jiro began her first assault on Momo Yaoyorozu.
"IT SEEMS LIKE RIGHT AWAY, JIRO'S TAKEN THE ADVANTAGE, PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON MOMO WITH HER SOUND QUIRK!" Present Mic shouted, "JUST WHAT CAN MOMO DO TO COUNTER HER?!"
"An instant assault… seems Jiro's taking this confrontation seriously." Momo thought to herself, having braced herself with her arms to try to maintain a firm position.
Jiro wasn't just blindly firing at Momo, as she had a plan to follow up. Being careful not to trip over her own earphones, Jiro ran towards Momo while maintaining her attack. Jiro aimed a punch at Momo, but once she threw it, she only ended up hitting a solid wall, with a bruised fist to show for it.
"OH, BUT IN ORDER TO STOP AN INCOMING PUNCH FROM JIRO, IT SEEMS THAT YAOYOROZU'S USED HER QUIRK IN ORDER TO CREATE A WALL OF SOME KIND!" Present Mic announced, "THIS BATTLE SEEMS TO BE HEATING UP FOLKS!"
"This wall…" Jiro thought, "I'm willing to bet it's soundproof!"
At first, Jiro tried to push down the wall in order to see if it was light enough to fall down on Yaoyorozu, but unfortunately, the wall was made of a thick, strong material, meaning that Jiro would have had to be superhuman to knock it down.
Not wanting to go in blind in case Yaoyorozu created a trap for her, Jiro plugged one of her earlobes into the soundproof wall to try and gather intel as to just what Yaoyorozu was planning. When she did however, the only thing she picked up was an insanely loud vibration, causing her to be stunned momentarily.
"Bingo!"
Yaoyorozu took advantage of Jiro's position, leaping out from behind her previously created wall and shooting Jiro with a net gun, trapping her.
"OH, AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF JIRO BEING MOMENTARILY STUNNED, IT SEEMS YAOYOROZU HAS TRAPPED JIRO! WILL THIS BE ALL FOR THE ASPIRING HERO?!" Present Mic questioned very audibly.
"Damn… you tricked me." Jiro muttered, trapped in the net created by Yaoyorozu.
"Of course. I thought too highly of you then to expect that you'd go into hostile territory blind." Momo responded, "And taking advantage of that allowed me to come up with the idea of utilizing an extremely high-frequency radio to defeat you."
In response to this, Jiro merely smirked, nervously chuckling for a moment.
"Don't talk like this is all over yet."
Before Momo could react, Jiro launched another assault of vibrations onto her opponent, stunning her for long enough that she could cut herself free from the net Momo had fired, using a bit of metal from one of her earlobes which she had unplugged from her legs. Momo took notice of Jiro's attempt to escape, and readied her net gun to recapture her foe.
"W-what?!" Momo thought, "Damn it... I... I was too slow! I should have either thrown her out of the arena right away, or fortified the net! I was a fool!"
"AND IN A SURPRISING TURN OF EVENTS, IT SEEMS THAT JIRO HAS ESCAPED FROM YAOYOROZU'S NET!" Present Mic shouted.
Momo fired a shot at Jiro, but she quickly rolled to dodge out of the way, straight behind the wall that Yaoyorozu had set up earlier.
"Wait a minute, she's-"
Before Momo could finish her thought, Jiro had already begun the attack that her foe was fearing.
"Earphone Jack: Amplify!"
An attack even greater than the previous assault that Momo had endured previously was then fired upon the girl. By utilizing the very same high-frequency radio that Momo created to capture Jiro earlier, Jiro manipulated the sound waves into a deadly form of attack.
"GOING BEHIND THE SOUNDPROOF WALL MOMO LAID OUT EARLIER, JIRO LAUNCHES A CRUSHING ATTACK ON YAOYOROZU, SO TOUGH THAT IT'S GOING BEYOND THE WALL ITSELF… SO TOUGH THAT IT'S NOT EVEN SPARING THE SPECTATORS!" Present Mic noted, "JUST A REMINDER, FEEL FREE TO SEE U.A.'S MEDICAL PERSONNEL IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED ASSISTANCE!"
Taking the brunt of Jiro's attack, Momo began coughing up blood due to the impact of Jiro's attack. If this kept up, she would lose consciousness in no time!
"OH?! WHAT'S THIS?!" Present Mic announced, paying attention to a new development in the arena, "IT SEEMS THAT JIRO'S ATTACK WAS SO STRONG… THE ARENA'S FALLING APART!"
Just as Present Mic announced this, the arena around Jiro and Momo began to break, and Jiro's attack ceased due to the girl losing her footing.
The reason the arena broke wasn't just because the arena's concrete shattered, however, as it was instead the ground below that had grown unstable and deformed into a position that made it so that the arena could no longer sustain itself. This is because the sound waves which Jiro aimed at the soundproof wall partially went down into the ground instead, and since they were so strong, they were at the perfect frequency to break apart the ground.
Having fallen a decent bit down because of that, Momo quickly created a trampoline in order to stop the impact of her fall. Meanwhile, Jiro had leapt backwards to ensure she stayed on the stable part of the arena, but unfortunately, both Momo's previously created wall and radio didn't share the same fate, as were rendered unusable when they hit the ground below.
Jiro could have won if she had maintained the safety of both the wall and radio, though the same could be argued for Momo in regards to keeping Jiro in the net. Both heroes were inexperienced, yet despite that, both trekked onwards, determined to find victory.
"REMEMBER FOLKS: OUT OF BOUNDS ISN'T APPLICABLE WHEN YOU'RE WITHIN THE ARENA OR IN MIDAIR!" Present Mic explained, seeing as Momo was presently on a trampoline in the middle of a broken part of the arena, "IN YAOYOROZU'S CASE, SINCE SHE'S ON HER TRAMPOLINE, SHE'S CONSIDERED IN MIDAIR, BUT IF SHE SO MUCH AS TOUCHES THE DEBRIS, SHE'LL BE OUT!"
"Jiro's strong… she'll surely take this- no… I can't be thinking like that right now." Momo thought, as she recalled the previous round of the Sports Festival, "Koda, Jiro, and Midoriya… all of them, even when faced with obstacles that they thought they couldn't overcome, they all still faced them head on with confidence! I'm presently disadvantaged, but catch Jiro off guard, and I'll be able to win!"
"If Momo so much as moves a muscle, she'll be out…" Jiro thought, "So all I have to do is launch a supersonic attack on her, and make her touch the rubble!"
Jiro now sought to swiftly dispatch Momo by making her touch the pieces of debris which were swarmed around her, but Momo acted even quicker.
In midair, she quickly created a second, smaller, and far more lightweight trampoline. The second trampoline and Momo herself then proceeded to fall down onto the first trampoline, which caused the second trampoline to launch into the air along with Momo.
Jiro already didn't like this, so she readied herself to amplify her own heartbeat in order to stop whatever Yaoyorozu was planning.
While the second trampoline was accelerating upwards, it began spinning slow enough that Momo could maintain a stable position on it. Once said trampoline was positioned slightly towards Jiro, yet still mostly upwards, Momo jumped off of it, bouncing towards Jiro, creating a staff in her right hand while she did so.
Jiro attempted to counter by attacking Momo once more, but even when Jiro's sound waves were beating her down, Momo persevered as she fell towards Jiro.
"METAL + WOVEN NYLON," Momo shouted, announcing her attack name as she swung her staff straight into Jiro's chest, "MOMENTUM IMPACT!"
After her attack, Momo quickly created another trampoline below her, stylishly doing a flip off of it after bouncing off of it. Once she landed on the ground, she breathed heavily, with a bit of blood still seeping from her mouth due to Jiro's previous amped attack. Momo still maintained a serious expression however, gazing at Jiro, trying to confirm whether or not she was knocked out, but Momo's vision was far too blurry to do such a thing… thankfully, she didn't need to.
"AAAAND AFTER AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING 'MOMENTUM IMPACT' FROM YAOYOROZU, IT SEEMS THAT KYOKA JIRO IS OUT COLD!" Present Mic announced, to Momo's relief, "WHICH MEANS… MOMO YAOYOROZU MOVES ON TO THE SECOND ROUND!"
"I just made it…" Yaoyorozu thought, falling to the ground after her victory was announced, "I knew this from the Battle Trial… and USJ as well… but… real fights with real stakes are completely different from theory."
Authors Note
The first two battles of Round One are out of the way, and the rest are to come in the next chapter!
As you can probably tell already, the tournament in this story is completely different, but I'll wait until Chapter 18 to discuss that further. Happy reading!
...
Oh wait, I can still talk about the movies and my updates on them.
Updates regarding adaptations of One Piece and My Hero Academia films
Originally, I was going to put out an adaptation of My Hero Academia: Two Heroes in between Chapter 14 and 15 as a standalone fanfic, but after writing like 30 pages of it, I realized that Two Heroes specifically isn't a very interesting movie to adapt.
The majority of the movie before the big final battle is honestly pretty boring to write about, and there are so many details I have to put into it, like, how did everyone get to I-Island? Who is Melissa? There is just so much stuff that wasn't interesting to write or read about. Then comes the big final battle... which, is also lame, because Wolfram is a boring villain and lacks a concrete motivation.
If I wanted to adapt Two Heroes into movie form, I'd have to practically create an entire new plot for it... and, the issue with that is that Two Heroes can't be canon, because the timeline makes no sense, but at the same time, in order to make the film interesting, I'd have to give characters interesting plot developments... so it can't be non-canon.
TL;DR: I will not be publishing an adaptation of My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.
I will say though, there will be other specials, it's just that they need to be more interesting to write about.
The only two specials I can guarantee will come out are adaptations of One Piece: Fan Letter as a sneak peak to the timeskip, and One Piece: Stampede, as I have a bunch of really cool ideas for Stampede that couldn't be introduced in canon.
Heroes Rising, World Mission, and You're Next are debatable. I still have not watched the last of the bunch, but for the other two... there are interesting ways they can both be integrated into the story, so I think that they may be adapted into canon or non-canon as specials. We'll just have to see.
Well, that's all. Now actually, happy reading!